Instagram Now Notifies You When Facebook Friends Join

As members of our editorial team noticed today, the Instagram app now notifies you when Facebook and Twitter friends join the service. Foursquare already does the same thing. But this integration could swiftly kick up activity, and by extension user numbers, on the photo sharing service with its estimated 50 million subscriberes. Signs of a Facebook-Instagram alliance started in early January, well before Facebook bought the app-maker, when Instagram started displaying full-size photos on Facebook profiles when both accounts were linked. By comparison, plush and expanded interactive cross-posts was an addition Twitter only just added to its Facebook display.

The Facebook-Instagram relationship is increasingly well watched. It has the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, which wants a closer look at the deal as a routine check performed on acquisitions of over $68.2 million. It was also under scrutiny from the SEC in Facebook's pre-IPO days, and in the weeks since, questions have been raised about Instagram's real value as Facebook's share price slides. Facebook's relationship with Instagram may have been complicated by the puzzling launch of its own Facebook Camera app after the acquisition announcement, but it seems the two are committed to being friends.

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